Method and device for detecting faults in a marine source array

1. A method for detecting faults of individual wave sources in a marine source array, the method comprising:

acquiring near-field data using sensors, the sensors being located near the individual wave sources;

generating an index for each of the individual wave sources based on (A) the near-field data and (B) information on geometry of the marine source array that enables localizing (i) the individual wave sources and (ii) respective sensors relative to one another; and

comparing the index for each of the individual wave sources with a corresponding reference index for determining whether a fault has occurred;

wherein the index comprises a spectrum and at least one of an arrival time of a first peak, a phase, a peak-to-bubble ratio and a bubble period.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensors are hydrophones.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the individual wave sources are single air guns or clusters of air-guns.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the index for each of the individual wave sources comprises:

determining an equivalent notional signature for each of the individual wave sources; and

extracting the index based on an inverse of the equivalent notional signature.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein one or more of the following assumptions for determining the equivalent notional signature for each of the individual wave sources:

each of the individual wave sources has an equivalent notional signature that propagates spherically;

equivalent notional signatures of air guns in a cluster are identical;

an equivalent notional signature of an individual wave source that is not firing is null; and

a reflection coefficient of a wave at a water surface is a function of an incident angle, the function being measured and calculated during a bubble test.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the index comprises the spectrum and at least two of the arrival time of the first peak, the phase, the peak-to-bubble ratio, and the bubble period.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the fault is a delay or an air leak.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

acquiring the information on the geometry of the marine source array using one or more of acoustic equipment, GPS equipment, and/or the near-field pressure data.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

filtering the near-field data acquired by each sensor to compensate for individual characteristics thereof, wherein the individual characteristics include at least one of amplitude and phase.

10. A marine source array evaluation apparatus configured to analyze data related to a marine source array including individual pressure wave sources configured to generate waves underwater, and sensors associated with the individual wave sources configured to acquire near-field data related to the waves generated by the individual wave sources, the sensors being placed near of the individual wave sources, the apparatus comprising:

a near-field data processing unit configured

to calculate an index for each of the individual wave sources based on (A) the near-field data and (B) information on geometry of the marine source array that enables localizing (i) the individual wave sources and (ii) respective sensors relative to one another; and

to compare the index for each of the individual wave sources with a corresponding reference index for determining whether a fault has occurred;

wherein the index comprises a spectrum and at least one of an arrival time of a first peak, a phase, a peak-to-bubble ratio and a bubble period.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the sensors are hydrophones.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the individual wave sources are air guns or clusters of air guns and the near-field data processing unit is configured to generate the index by

determining an equivalent notional signature for each of the individual wave sources; and

extracting the index based on an inverse of the equivalent notional signature.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the near-field data processing unit uses one or more of the following assumptions for determining the equivalent notional signature for each of the individual wave sources:

each of the individual pressure wave sources has an equivalent notional signature that propagates spherically;

equivalent notional signatures of air guns in a cluster are identical;

a notional signature of a pressure wave source that is not firing is null; and

a reflection coefficient of a pressure wave at a water surface is a function of an incident angle, the function being measured and calculated during a bubble test.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the near-field data processing unit is further configured to obtain the information on the geometry of the marine source is from acoustic equipment, GPS equipment, and/or based the near-field pressure data.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the near-field data processing unit is further configured to filter data associated to each of the pressure sensors in order to compensate for the pressure sensors having different characteristics, wherein the different characteristics include at least one of amplitude and phase.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the individual pressure wave sources are air guns or clusters of air guns, and the near-field data processing unit is configured to generate the index for each of the individual pressure wave sources by (1) determining an equivalent notional signature for each of the individual pressure sources, and (2) extracting the index based on an inverse of the equivalent notional signature.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the index comprises the first peak, the spectrum, phase, the peak-to-bubble ratio, and the bubble period.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:

a monitoring unit connected to the near-field data processing unit and configured to monitor evolution of the index for each of the individual sources and to signal when a difference between the generated index and the reference index exceeds a predetermined index threshold difference.

19. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:

a display connected to the near-field data processing unit and configured to display values of the index versus time for one or more of the individual.

20. A computer readable media non-transitorily storing executable codes which when executed on a computer make the computer perform a method for detecting individual source faults in a marine source array, the method comprising:

acquiring near-field data using sensors, the sensors being located near the individual wave sources;

generating an index for each of the individual wave sources based on (A) the near-field data and (B) information on geometry of the marine source array that enables localizing (i) the individual wave sources and (ii) respective sensors relative to one another; and

comparing the index for each of the individual wave sources with a corresponding reference index for determining whether a fault has occurred,

wherein

the near-field data is acquired for individual wave sources using sensors, one of the sensors being placed near of each of the individual wave sources,

the information on the geometry of the marine source enables localizing the individual wave sources and the sensors relative to one another; and

wherein the index comprises a spectrum and at least one of an arrival time of a first peak, a phase, a peak-to-bubble ratio and a bubble period.